The World Briefly
July 24, 2023The Reversal
Brazil
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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva passed a decree over the weekend that would tighten gun control rules previously loosened by his conservative predecessor, a move aimed at reducing gun-related violence, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Under the new decree, Brazilians can only buy two guns for self-defense instead of four, while hunters can only own six guns instead of 30. The yearly ammunition allowance for each gun will be reduced from 200 to 50 bullets and 24-hour shooting clubs will be banned.
The presidential decree comes after Lula passed a series of other gun control measures soon after he took office in January, including a ban on individuals carrying loaded weapons in public.
Lula said the decision will “bring the country back to normality” and reduce the number of crimes involving guns while preventing criminal groups from easily accessing weapons.
In Brazil, the issue of firearms control has become highly contentious due to the prevalence of gun-related crimes. In 2017, the country recorded the highest number of homicides worldwide, with a significant portion committed with firearms.
Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, relaxed gun laws in the country, including allowing owners to carry loaded firearms as long as they were en route to a shooting club. Weapons sales also soared during Bolsonaro’s presidency and the estimated number of guns in civilian hands more than tripled to 2.9 million in a country of 214 million people, according to Brazilian non-profit Instituto Sou da Paz, the Associated Press added.
Bolsonaro and other conservative politicians had said that Brazilians deserve the right to defend themselves against the country’s heavily armed criminals.
Now, Brazilian gun owners and gun-club proprietors criticized the government’s decision as unfair, adding that they will end up at the mercy of criminals if they can’t train to shoot properly.
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